


Path of Good

by cresselia8themoon



Category: Milo Murphy's Law, Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Angst, Family Drama, Gen, Minor appearances by Sara and Milo Murphy, Season 2 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 18:11:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16068545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cresselia8themoon/pseuds/cresselia8themoon
Summary: Takes place after Sick Day of MML Season 2. Warning for spoilers!Perry takes Vanessa and Norm to see Heinz after he begins living with the Murphys. There's a lot they need to talk about.





	Path of Good

**Author's Note:**

> I got the inspiration for this fic while reading some criticism about the new season on Discord. While I don’t necessarily agree with all of it, it got me thinking about how Heinz’s decision impacted the rest of his family.

Perry colored in random circles on the OWCA performance review survey, not caring if his answers weren’t accurately reflecting his true opinions of Major Monogram. Besides, it wasn’t like anyone ever read the darn things. 

_“Wait a minute, Perry the Platypus. Are you working right now?”_

Perry’s hand clenched around the pencil. Just answer the questions. It would blow over soon. Everything would be fine. 

_“But we were saving the city together! One good deed at a time!”_

But he was doing his job. And his job called for deception. Which hurt his nemesis in all ways but the right one. 

_“I thought you were my friend!”_

And he was. He wanted to be. Yet there were days when Heinz was convinced he only stayed out of pity. Those fights were much harder than any physical battle Perry could get into. 

_“You’re only here to be my babysitter!”_

Honesty was considered a good trait, just as lying was considered a bad trait. 

For an agency that proclaimed itself to be a bastion of good, they sure did an awful lot of lying. 

_“That’s it, Perry the Platypus! We are through!”_

Perry wished they could go to simpler times, when they were just nemeses with the occasional tea invite. But now everything was new and bright and rocky ever since they discovered Heinz’s future as Professor Time.

And Perry hated it. He’d discovered quickly that all Heinz talked about was Professor Time this and Professor Time that, with a sprinkle of doing good as well.

Hadn’t he spent an entire summer helping Heinz work through his various backstories?

Why did Heinz have to feel obligated to meet expectations from the future as well?

Perry threw the pencil to the floor in frustration, the lead snapping off from the force. Sometimes he really wanted to walk up to the universe’s door and give them a solid punch to the face for treating Heinz so viciously.

He stored the performance review surveys in his hat and buckled himself into the hovercraft, setting it to autopilot. He didn’t feel like driving manually today.

* * *

Major Monogram wasn’t in his office, so Perry would just have to leave the forms in the black box attached to the door. He had a little trouble since the box was at human height, but he managed to slip all but one of the papers into the slot. 

He jumped several more times, but the last page still wouldn’t go in. Perry tensed his legs, prepared to just knock the entire box off the door and deal with a lecture later. 

Then a pair of heels clicked against the floor, ruining his concentration. He turned to the source, slightly irritated at the interruption. 

“Great seeing you, Perry,” Vanessa said with an apologetic smile. She carried a steaming mug of coffee in her hands. “You need any help?” 

Perry nodded, his earlier irritation melting away. He handed the paper to Vanessa, who put it in the box for him. She sighed. “Carl’s the one who clears all this out. For some reason, Major Monogram never looks at the stuff in here. And I wouldn’t expect anything if that page was part of the performance review surveys we sent out a week ago. Monty caught him using Agent Silent G’s review as a coaster yesterday.” 

Perry tipped his hat in appreciation. 

“Major Monogram should be finishing with the morning briefings. I’d better get this coffee to him. Wanna come with?” Vanessa asked, her smile fading. She sighed as they walked down the corridor together. “So…I heard Dad’s got a place to stay. That’s good, right?” 

She didn’t sound so sure though. 

As far as Perry knew, Heinz hadn’t seen Vanessa and Norm since the Pistachion incident. He barely seemed to mention them too. Did Heinz at least try to contact them with a video chat? 

All hail the benevolent Professor Time, who’s way more important to the universe than one man’s family.

“I know we aren’t abandoned, but I just wish he’d check in once a while. Funny how I wished that he’d stop pestering me about every detail, but I sort of miss it now. It’s weird,” Vanessa continued. “I’ve heard a few things, like how he tried to clean gum off the sidewalk and nearly leveled the business district. So I guess not everything’s changed.” 

Perry shook his head. 

But he made up his mind. He was taking Vanessa and Norm to see their dad this afternoon. Enough was enough. Heinz couldn’t keep avoiding them forever. 

And if there was some chance that Heinz wanted to talk things out, or hear an apology….

Then Perry mentally kicked himself. Vanessa and Norm came first. Let them have their father-child moments. 

But he didn’t know if he would get another chance to make amends. 

* * *

Vanessa rode shotgun in his hovercraft while Perry drove. Norm flew beside them. He’d been living at Charlene’s since Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated had been destroyed, but it wasn’t the same as the lab. 

Perry visited Charlene’s residence once a week to oil Norm’s joints, since Heinz wasn’t around to do the usual maintenance checks. But he always felt like an intruder when he held that oil can. 

To Norm, maintenance was sacred father-son time.

“DO YOU THINK THERE’S A FAMILY OF SQUIRRELS LOOKING TO ADOPT A ROBOT MAN?” Norm asked. 

Perry was already trying not to backtrack on his decision, and Norm constantly implying that Heinz had abandoned them wasn’t helping matters. He was growing worried that Heinz was unconsciously repeating yet another pattern from his childhood. 

“Perry’s not letting Dad off the hook, Norm. I’m angry at Dad myself,” Vanessa admitted. “All I have are several phone calls that aren’t over ten minutes and biased OWCA reports. Can’t make any promises about holding in any scathing remarks after I hear him out though.” 

“SENDING CARDS IS USUALLY POLITE,” Norm added. 

Perry gripped the steering wheel tightly. He hoped Vanessa and Norm would have better luck with Heinz than him. If Heinz’s former evil status was any indication, he was most definitely not the forgive and forget type. 

* * *

As a precaution, Perry hid the hovercraft under a clump of thick bushes at the end of the street to avoid the worst of Murphy’s Law. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with a docked salary to pay for damaged equipment on top of all the other stress he was under. 

Perry pointed at the Murphy’s house, which had several broken motorcycles piled up in the driveway in an enormous wreck. Vanessa eyed it warily as she stepped over several loose parts. As she rang the doorbell, Perry ducked underneath a nearby plastic chair. 

An incredibly frustrated teenage girl answered the door, glaring furiously at something inside the house. “Well, you’re the one who ate my double fudge ice cream!” she shouted. Then she forced a smile towards her guests. “Hi. Can I help you?” 

Vanessa nodded. “Hi, I’m Vanessa. Heinz Doofenshmirtz’s daughter. I heard he was crashing at your place and I just wanted to come by and see him.” 

“MY NAME IS NORM. HEINZ DOOFENSHMIRTZ IS ALSO MY FATHER,” Norm declared cheerfully. 

Sara just stared, her mouth dropping open in shock. 

“My dad created him last summer,” Vanessa explained helpfully. “So he’s technically my little brother.” 

Sara continued to gape. 

Vanessa sighed, thumbing through her phone. “I have pictures if you don’t believe me.” 

“No, it’s not that I don’t believe you. Cause I do,” Sara held up her hands apologetically. “It’s just, well, your  _dad-”_ she stressed the word angrily “-has been bawling on the couch and eating  _my_  ice cream for the past few days. He acts more like a teenage girl than the actual teenage girl of this household, for crying out loud! Seriously, I thought that was just a stereotype for soap operas, but nope. Apparently some people do that!” 

She must’ve really been looking forward to that double fudge ice cream. 

“Oh, and I don’t think he ever mentioned having kids. Or maybe he said it and I wasn’t paying attention or something. Anyway, we’ve kinda got this whole no robot rule in the house,” Sara admitted. Then her eyes lit up. “But I could just send him outside for you guys! I’d be able to watch an entire episode of Dr. Zone and the overdramatic wails will be coming from me for a change!” 

Perry bristled, gripping the legs of the plastic chair so he didn’t march in there himself and drag Heinz out. Heinz never resisted an opportunity to talk about Vanessa. He bragged about her to anyone who would listen (mostly Perry). And Heinz usually acknowledged Norm too, mostly to call him a junkpile. 

It didn’t make sense. 

Then again, nothing made sense anymore. 

“Yeah, that’d be great. We’ll wait out here,” Vanessa agreed.

Sara grinned at her. “Yeah, it might be a few minutes. Milo and I’ll make sure he’s wearing something other than couch potato clothes first.” 

“Thank you so much,” Vanessa smiled in relief as the door closed. 

“I BROUGHT BASEBALLS AND GLOVES SO WE CAN PLAY A LOVELY GAME OF CATCH,” Norm said, opening a chest compartment filled to the brim with sports equipment. 

“Probably not on this visit, Norm,” Vanessa said. “Some other time?” 

Norm closed the compartment in disappointment. 

Heinz wasn’t going to take Perry’s presence well. Not when he was still angry at Perry lying to him. 

He’d lied so many times. As if he didn’t know how to be honest. And he was supposed to be a good guy. But Heinz wore his heart on his sleeve. He’d told Perry so many backstories, how he felt angry, annoyed, or embittered towards events in his past. Heinz had every right to be furious with him. 

He knew Heinz wanted him to be more open. So Perry smiled as he handed Heinz an ice cream cone. He gasped when an inator exploded. And he acted proud when Heinz thought he was doing good. 

But that’s all it was. Just acting. 

It wasn’t the honest kind of open. No wonder Heinz wanted nothing to do with him anymore. 

“Are you okay?” Vanessa asked. “You spaced out.” 

Perry glanced to the door, then made a shushing gesture at her as he darted behind a column. 

“You know you don’t have to worry about identities, right?” Vanessa called to him. Perry shrugged in defiance. She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Be that way.” 

Five minutes passed before the door creaked open an inch. But then it suddenly shut with an audible yelp. Muffled noises came from inside the house, and Vanessa took several steps back. The door trembled several times before finally breaking down. 

“Whoops,” Milo said. “Guess we’re replacing this one.” He held a long slab up. 

Sara managed to shove Heinz, who looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here, past the threshold and onto the porch. “Well, you guys obviously have some super important family business to take care of so we’ll leave you alone!” she exclaimed cheerfully, doing a very awkward victory dance. “Uh-huh, he’s out! Can watch! Zo-one! On the big! Telly! Uh-huh!” 

Everyone stared at her. Milo coughed into his hand. “Sara. They can still see you.” 

Sara slowed to a stop as the realization dawned on her. “Uh, you didn’t see anything,” she blushed as she walked off. Milo waved in apology before leaving them alone.

The bags under Heinz’s eyes were deeper than normal, and his lab coat looked hastily thrown on. He looked awful. “Hi, Vanessa,” he said, his voice quivering. “And the junkpile too, I guess.” 

“Dad, can you not call Norm a junkpile please?” Vanessa sighed. “Look, we haven’t really talked in a while. I guess you’ve been busy with the whole being good thing, huh?”

“Well, if I’m going to be Professor Time then I have to be good!” Heinz said. “Besides, I’m doing great. Got a ton of new ideas and I’m ready to try out them out.” 

“I saw the reports. OWCA intern, remember?” Vanessa asked. “Some of the agents don’t believe you’ve changed sides at all.”

Heinz deflated instantly, scuffing the ground with his socks. “But I have switched sides! The OWCA sent me a gift basket they reserve for reformed evil scientists! I’ve been going around the city with inators to try to do good! Though I guess ‘good’ isn’t good enough for some people.”

“Dad, you’re putting way too much stock into that word,” Vanessa retorted. “You’re treating it exactly like you did with evil. And you know what isn’t good? How you barely even talked to us after that whole plant incident or whatever! What makes you think it’s suddenly alright to just leave like that?” 

“Look, I need to be here so I can figure out how to be Professor Time!” Heinz protested. “So the best way to start is doing good!” 

Vanessa gestured to Norm angrily. “Norm wanted to go find squirrels to adopt him, Dad! Because you didn’t bother to see if he was fine after the building collapsed! Is that ringing any bells for you?” 

Perry knew Vanessa had struck a nerve. His hands clenched against the bricks, and he desperately hoped that all the progress she’d made over the summer didn’t wash down the drain. 

Heinz took a step back. “Don’t bring the ocelots into this.” 

“You’re the one who’s making Norm feel that way!” Vanessa protested. 

“PERRY THE PLATYPUS, I DON’T FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH ALL THIS ARGUING. MAYBE WE CAN BUY SODA FROM A CONVENIENCE STORE AND WAIT IT OUT,” Norm said.

Vanessa’s eyes widened in alarm, and Perry’s shoulders slumped. No point in hiding anymore now that he was found out. He came out from behind the column, staring pointedly at the ground. 

Heinz scoffed and turned away. “Great, now you brought him too? Why would you even do something like that?” 

“Monogram told me what happened,” Vanessa said. “Said you were pretty mad after you found out Perry was on the clock.”

“ARE YOU AND PERRY THE PLATYPUS HITTING A ROUGH PATCH?” Norm asked. “DID I DO ANYTHING TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN?” 

“You didn’t do anything cause you weren’t there!” Heinz snapped. “Don’t take credit for this, Norm. And I told you before, Perry the Platypus. We’re through. Finished. Complete. Do I need to go find a thesaurus for more synonyms before you get the picture?” 

Perry had expected this. He’d known he’d be hurt if he agreed to come here. But he still did. Some part of him was still hoping that Heinz would apologize, they’d make up, and things would go back to normal between them. 

But Heinz didn’t want them there. He was going to be famous and successful. Why should he need any reminders of his old life holding him back? 

Perry’s hands shook. His heart pounded in his ears as a fury he couldn’t stop overtook him. 

Heinz had never fully given up on evil. He never thought consequences through. But most of all, he hurt Vanessa and Norm. 

Perry didn’t care if it was unintentional. He didn’t care about Professor Time and his pathetic fame and fortune. 

It was true that Heinz always wanted recognition. That’s why he wanted the Tri-State Area so badly as an evil scientist. 

Perry’s attention wasn’t enough for him. Heinz craved more. He just took and took and took until Perry was completely depleted. 

He was furious. Furious that he’d tried to help, and his efforts were in vain. Furious that Heinz thought he could erase everything from the past summer. Furious that Heinz hadn’t learned a thing, that he hadn’t reformed despite his promise to Vanessa, that all the good times they shared didn’t mean a thing. 

“Cut it out, both of you!” someone screamed. 

Perry blinked, shaking his head to get rid of the haze that had settled on his mind. Then he realized that his feet were firmly planted on Heinz’s stomach, one hand curled around his turtleneck. 

Heinz’s hand was resting on Perry’s torso in an attempt to push him off. He gasped for air, propping himself up with his other elbow. 

Vanessa rushed off the porch, enveloping both of them in a hug. “Just stop, okay?” she whispered. “I’m tired of being mad.” 

Norm sat behind them, his metallic legs stretching out on either side. 

“This doing good thing is harder than it looks,” Heinz admitted. “I thought about checking up on you. Then stuff happened, and I never did. I didn’t know what I was going to tell you. And you convinced me to switch sides, Vanessa. Guess it doesn’t really seem like it, huh? I never meant any of this.” 

His hand tightened around Vanessa’s back, drawing her closer. Perry massaged small circles into her shoulder as a wordless apology. Their eyes were squeezed shut. Everyone’s rage had evaporated. There was nothing left but relief and worry for the road ahead. 

Then Vanessa broke the silence. “Dad, I told you before that I’d help you figure it out. Maybe we could try the good guy thing again, but this time you let me and Norm help. We can do it together.” 

Perry reached up, pressing his palm against the back of Heinz’s hand. He closed his eyes and pushed, channeling all of his regrets and hopes into a single spot. 

He was sorry for lying to him. 

He was sorry for not doing a better job on leading him to the path of good. 

He was happy that Heinz had finally spoken to Vanessa and Norm again. 

He was happy that they were making a plan to work things out. 

And most importantly, Perry promised that they would discover what it meant to be good together. There would always be calm skies and stormy skies to face, but Heinz would never have to walk alone. 

Heinz let out a tiny gasp, but Vanessa and Norm didn’t say anything if they heard it. Then his hand withdrew, completely swallowing Perry’s smaller hand and pressing it against Vanessa’s back. 

Heinz hadn’t forgiven him completely. There were a lot of things they needed to work on. Their love for Vanessa and Norm was the starting point, and they could build up from there. 

The path of good wasn’t an easy one. There would be more tears and explosions of rage to come. 

But for once, Perry was hopeful for the future. 

**Author's Note:**

> I had some rage moments when I was writing this, I admit. Mostly at Heinz and Vanessa’s argument, cause I couldn’t come up with a good defense for Heinz. 
> 
> The title also received numerous changes. Working titles included “Not So Different” and “Talk to Them”, before I settled on Path of Good. 
> 
> I actually had this fic idea before Sick Day aired, but there were some kinks I was figuring out in the summary. Heinz’s anger towards Perry is the most justifiable aspect to his side here.


End file.
